BlackBerry's enterprise offering wins U.S. security clearance

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

TORONTO (Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd has received a coveted security clearance that paves the way for U.S. government agencies to use its systems to manage and secure Android- and iOS-powered devices operating on their internal networks, the smartphone maker said on Wednesday.

A woman uses her mobile phone at the Blackberry World Event in Orlando May 1, 2012. REUTERS/David Manning

Secure Work Space fences off corporate email, calendar, contacts, tasks, memos, browsing and document editing from personal apps and content on smartphone and tablet devices that run on either Apple Inc’s iOS platform and Google Inc’s market-dominating Android operating system.

The system, introduced last year, could mean BlackBerry can sell its high-margin services to large, security-conscious government and corporate clients even if many or all of their employees are using smartphones made by the company’s competitors.

Secure Work Space allows IT administrators to configure, secure, or wipe sensitive data from devices, while also giving employees the freedom to enjoy them by loading games and external applications for personal use.

The system runs on BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, the platform that allows the company’s corporate and government clients to manage devices on their internal networks.

Shares of BlackBerry were down 11 Canadian cents at C$10.33 in midday trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Reporting by Euan Rocha in Toronto and Anannya Pramanick in Bangalore; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Lisa Von Ahn